QD-laser company gets more funding
Innolume (Dortmund, Germany and Santa Clara, CA), a provider of quantum-dot (QD) laser diodes and modules, secured a Series C round of financing for $12.65 million to enhance production capabilities and marketing activities for its QD laser products for telecommunications, industrial, and medical applications, as well as to further develop its comb laser and related photonic integrated circuit technology. Innolume‘s QD laser technology covers the near-infrared range between 1000 and 1320 nm, beyond the conventional range of semiconductor lasers and of great interest in telecommunications, medical lasers, direct materials processing, and in frequency-doubling technology used in displays and projection systems.
Market grows for HB LEDs
High-brightness light-emitting diodes (HB LEDs) have demonstrated dramatic improvements in performance in recent years, as well as significant cost reduction, such that they are undergoing a period of rapid market growth in a variety of niche and general lighting applications, says a report by Strategies Unlimited (Mountain View, CA). In 2007 the worldwide market for HB LEDs used in lighting applications reached $337 million, up from $205 million in 2006. Although the majority of lighting applications continued to use colored LEDs, white LEDs accounted for 48% of the market, and this percentage will grow as LEDs achieve greater penetration of the general illumination market. The report, entitled The Market for High-Brightness LEDs in Lighting: Application Analysis and Forecast—2008, is available at www.strategies-u.com.
U.S. economy is impacting LASIK market
The laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) eye-surgery market is experiencing a decline. While Advanced Medical Optics‘ (AMO; Santa Ana, CA) Q2 2008 financial results reported a 44% increase in international sales, the news was not all good. The equipment maker says weak U.S. economic conditions and corresponding significant declines in consumer discretionary spending drove down its U.S. excimer procedures nearly 40% in June. As a result, AMO now expects its 2008 U.S. excimer procedures to be approximately 25% below 2007 levels. Asked what the company foresees for 2009, AMO‘s manager of corporate communications Steve Chesterman said, “We can‘t speculate but we‘re working to minimize the downside where we can.”
Laser-based detection system targets petroleum industry
Avacta Group (York, England), developer of detection and analysis technology aimed at the pharmaceutical, healthcare, industrial, and security sectors, entered into a product development partnership with one of the market leaders in toxic and flammable gas detection (name not disclosed for reasons of commercial sensitivity) for the development of a new hydrogen sulphide sensor for industrial safety applications that uses its cavity-enhanced-absorption spectroscopy technology. Avacta will receive a royalty based license payment on product sales, which Avacta and its partner believe has the potential to be several hundred units per year.
Vitex and Novaled to cooperate on OLEDs
Thin-film encapsulation technology company Vitex Systems (San Jose, CA) and Novaled (Dresden, Germany), a manufacturer of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), plan to combine advantages of the Vitex Barix thin-film technology with Novaled doping technology and materials, targeting very thin and high-efficiency long-lifetime OLED products. The majority of OLEDs are currently processed on very thick glass substrates and encapsulated with glass for protection against air and moisture. The Vitex technology reduces the nearly 90% thickness due to glass alone.
For more business news visit www.optoelectronicsreport.com.
Also in the news . . .
Cynosure (Westford, MA), developer and manufacturer of light-based aesthetic treatment systems, announced that for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2008, revenues increased approximately 30% to $39.2 million from $30.1 million in the second quarter of 2007. . . . The Light up the World Foundation (www.lutw.org), an international humanitarian organization dedicated to illuminating the lives of the world‘s poor through ultraefficient white light-emitting-diode technology powered by renewable energy, has moved to a new location in Calgary, AB, Canada. . . . The Trumpf Group achieved sales growth of 10% in the 2007/2008 fiscal year; compared to the previous year, its sales increased to approximately $3.15 billion). . . . IPG Photonics (Oxford, MA), manufacturer of high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers, reported that revenues for the second quarter of 2008 increased by 27% to $56.0 million. . . . Imaging giant Konica Minolta (Tokyo, Japan) and display and lighting developerUniversal Display (Ewing, NJ) signed an agreement to integrate Universal Display‘s proprietary OLED technologies into Konica Minolta‘s white OLED lighting products.